Weekend Box Office (August 16 - 18, 2019)
THIS WEEKEND R-rated comedies have struggled over the past two years but Universal scored a win with its raunchy middle school tale Good Boys which powered its way to a number one opening with an estimated $21M. Averaging a solid $6,554 per theater from 3,204 locations, the Seth Rogen-produced film earned very good reviews and the audience reaction was positive too with a B+ CinemaScore. As the best R-rated comedy opening of the year so far, Boys will try to leverage the final summer weeks and reach the $60M vicinity by the end of the run which would be stellar for a low-cost production like this.
The action spinoff hit Hobbs and Shaw was bumped to second place giving Universal the top two films this weekend - a rare feat in this Disney-dominated world. It fell 44% to an estimated $14.1M lifting the cume to $133.7M. Overseas grosses broke the triple century mark at $303.3M putting worldwide at $437M.
Still rocking in third place in its fifth weekend was the Disney remake of The Lion King with an estimated $11.9M, down 41%. The juggernaut is almost at the half-billion domestic mark reaching $496.1M to date making it #14 all-time. Add in a monster $939.1M of international markets and the global haul now stands at $1.44 billion making it #9 all-time worldwide. The Simba pic looks on course to finish at about $1.55 billion and #7 all-time.
Sony opened its new toon sequel The Angry Birds Movie 2 over an extended period and grossed an estimated $10.5M over the weekend and $16.2M over the six-day period since Tuesday's launch. The PG-rated pic earned good reviews and averaged $2,714 over the weekend.
Horror pic Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark fell 52% in its second weekend to an estimated $10.1M boosting its sum to a solid $40.2M. The new shark sequel 47 Meters Down: Uncaged opened in sixth place with an estimated $9M falling below the $11.2M debut of its predecessor from two summers ago. The PG-13 entry from Entertainment Studios averaged $3,155 from 2,853 locations.
Dropping 51% was Dora and the Lost City of Gold with an estimated $8.5M for Paramount and $33.9M to date. Tarantino's Once Upon A Time in Hollywood still held up well again slipping 35% to an estimated $7.6M putting Sony at $114.3M.
Opening to an estimated $4.5M was the critically acclaimed film Blinded By the Light which debuted to an estimated $4.5M from 2,307 locations for an average of $1,929 for Warner Bros. Close behind with an estimated $4.4M was Fox's The Art of Racing in the Rain which fell 46% and raised its cume to $16.9M.
The top ten films grossed an estimated $101.5M which was off 8% from last year when Crazy Rich Asians opened at number one with $26.5M; but up 34% from 2017 when The Hitman's Bodyguard debuted on top with $21.4M.
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Last Updated: August 18, 2019 at 12:45PM ET
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